Minnesota will look to move closer to securing the Big Ten’s automatic bid by beating Michigan.
Entering the conference tournaments, one team that felt like it needed to do some serious work to impress the Selection Committee was the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Golden Gophers had a respectable 19-12 mark in the regular season but went just 9-11 in the loaded Big Ten, meaning they needed a few more wins to show they belonged in the field of 68.
After beating Penn State on Thursday, Minnesota followed that up with a huge 75-73 win over Purdue, their second win over the Boilermakers in nine days. Jordan Murphy led the way for Minnesota, scoring 27 points to help the Golden Gophers pretty much punch their ticket for Selection Sunday.
Next up for Minnesota is a semifinal matchup with one of the league’s national title threats, the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan, which has won the Big Ten Tournament each of the last two years, began its title defense last night with an easy 73-54 win over Iowa.
Point guard Zavier Simpson was the engine for the Wolverines’ offense, scoring 10 points on 4-4 shooting and setting up his teammates with 11 assists. Michigan shot a solid 45.2% from the floor in their win over the Hawkeyes, and beating the Golden Gophers would send the Wolverines back to the final.
The Wolverines swept a pair of matchups with the Golden Gophers during the regular season, but the combined margin of victory in those games was only 11 points. It looks like we could be in for another close game in Chicago this afternoon with these two squads.
How to watch Michigan vs. Minnesota
Date: Saturday, March 16
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Chicago, IL
Venue: United Center
TV: CBS
Live Stream: CBS Sports Mobile